Well, that was a horrendous experience.

BUT, all is well now.

My gastric sleeve was performed on August 12th 2019.

All the pre-op stuff was fine and I was excited and looking forward to a quick exit on day 2. I notice that most of you are in the USA, which I am not so there are a few things we do differently. My blood's were all good and the day before my op I just had to ring the private hospital I was going to, to check on what time my admission was on the Monday. I was first on the list for the day so was taken to theatre at 0830am.

I hopped onto the operating table myself, which was a bit weird, but I know some places do it this way. I was just trying not to stress and go with the flow! Cannulas were inserted into both hands and then off to the land of fairies I went.

I am oblivious to how much later I woke, but I was in absolute agony and the Dr's struggled to get my pain under control. Eventually, after lots of vague voices/mumbling/crying, I must have zonked out again before being taken back to my room.

Now the next 8 days are a bit jumbled and blurred. My family have clarified some things for me so I 'kind of' have a correct recollection of events.

I was in constant and severe abdominal pain.

I could not stop vomiting.

I could not keep in 2.5ml of water per 5 mins.

By Day 8 post-op, my Surgeon decided to do a Dilation via Endoscope because he had decided that I had a constriction. By this stage, I was on regular morphine, IV potassium (it had dropped due to the vomiting) and constant fluid balance. As you can imagine I was desperate and delirious by this point.

I woke from the endoscopy....in the same pain, still unable to hold anything in.

I'm not sure how soon after this I was transferred via emergency ambulance to the big local hospital and had a revision done, so have ended up with a '1 anastomosis bypass'. Finally being able to drink and keep it down was amazing and such a huge relief.

Lots of other bits went on during all this as I had to have a midline catheter put in rather than the normal cannulae that you would have in your hands/arms etc, lots of medication tweaking, iv fluids, blood tests etc

So you can see my abdomen day 1, then a few days later and then starting to fade well today All in the wrong order lol the middle pic is today. I also had a fall in the bathroom on the 20th and landed on the toilet, I only vaguely remember the fall and thought I had broken my ribs (obvs hadn't), then had no recollection of the fall for a few days lol!

ANYWAY! Now the horror is over and I am finally home, I am tolerating protein fluids well, got my high protein milk made up and add it to my breakfast smoothie and tomato/chicken soup. Not so keen on the slight texture the protein powder leaves in my mouth but hey ho. I am super weak and wobbly and showering myself and getting my 'drinks' are my limit, but just trying to do a little more each time I stand up AND I must remember I had not 1 but 2 major ops plus all the stress and strain in between

I am absolutely dying to taste REAL food and not thick claggy high protein things with so much sweetness. Even tinned soup is too sweet sigh

I have my 2 weeks follow up with my surgeon and Dietician next week. Weight is falling off I have lost 15kg/33lbs to date

Sis ... Those pics ?

Glad you back on the journey to recovery ?

Gosh! What a wild ride!!! What caused the extreme pain? I'm so sorry you had to go through this terror! And so glad you are doing so well! ((hugs))

FYI? I didn't have any complications or problems with pain and my abdomen looked like your's after my surgery too. Lovenox. Gotta love it. It puts on quite a "color show". Luckily most of us can absorb it.

And you don't have to "love" the protein period, you just have to figure out a way through it.

Try cutting your protein with things that take the sweetness away:

1. Decaff Coffee

2. Decaff Tea

3. High Protein Milk (like Fairlife milk or Fat Free Milk + Skim Milk Powder)

4. Greek Yogurt thinned down with milk to a pourable consistency

5. Water

Add unflavored protein to soups. Get soup from the market (fresh) and strain it and drink the liquids. Hang in there and heal well! Walk, walk, walk, sip, sip, sip!!

14 minutes ago, GreenTealael said:

Sis ... Those pics ?

Glad you back on the journey to recovery ?

ha! I know, even all the staff were coming to look, good job I wasn't well enough to care Yep baby steps now, feeling pretty good just weak and wobbly but on track

2 minutes ago, Bastian said:

ha! I know, even all the staff were coming to look, good job I wasn't well enough to care Yep baby steps now, feeling pretty good just weak and wobbly but on track

Good! Welcome to the Journey! ?

20 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

Gosh! What a wild ride!!! What caused the extreme pain? I'm so sorry you had to go through this terror! And so glad you are doing so well! ((hugs))

FYI? I didn't have any complications or problems with pain and my abdomen looked like your's after my surgery too. Lovenox. Gotta love it. It puts on quite a "color show". Luckily most of us can absorb it.

And you don't have to "love" the Protein period, you just have to figure out a way through it.

Try cutting your protein with things that take the sweetness away:

1. Decaff Coffee

2. Decaff Tea

3. High Protein Milk (like Fairlife milk or Fat Free Milk + Skim Milk Powder)

4. Greek Yogurt thinned down with milk to a pourable consistency

5. Water

Add unflavored protein to Soups. Get Soup from the market (fresh) and strain it and drink the liquids. Hang in there and heal well! Walk, walk, walk, sip, sip, sip!!

Hey, I developed a Volvulus hence the pain, (not related to the pretty tummy artwork lol) and THANK GOD nothing went necrotic (or I may well not be here); they were just a bit slow to diagnose it unfortunately for me and I had the fall because of the morphine. Yeah, I bled like that from the Fragmin BUT because I was on gabapentin and naproxen pre-surgery too...I thought it looked like artwork of Snoopy

I can't drink coffee it tastes awful now, what has happened lol

Just making up my own high protein milk recipes as per the paperwork I was given. BUT I actually may well just try a small coffee now and see how I go Thanks

Ouch! I had one of those too! My gut twisted when it went through an internal hernia. SOOOO crazy painful!!! I'm so so sorry that happened to you and thank God, no necrosis!!!! ((hugs)) And heal quickly!!!

Wow! Rough start. I'm so happy to hear things are back on track and you are feeling better. You have a great attitude and hopefully things will only get better! Take care!

Oh my word, you poor dear. Take care.

What an awful experience, glad you came through it.

I also have colorful pics , I looked like I needed the Oompa Loompas to take me for dejuicing

Glad you are on the mend now!

Wishing you only smooth sailing in the journey from here... ?

Looks so painful, i am so glad your good now

On 8/30/2019 at 1:21 AM, llfonseca said:

Looks so painful, i am so glad your good now

Thank you all Obviously tummy was tender but the bruising really does look worse than it felt

My Bariatric nurse rang me today and informed me because my sleeve turned into a bypass the following week I have to 80g protein a day rather than the 60g.

So I have my beef bone broth, tomato/chicken soup and fluids that I can add my protein powder to.

I have noticed if I drink the pre-made protein shakes I feel really sick and horrible an hour or so later, I am guessing the carbs are too high and causing dumping syndrome....sigh

Also, because my pain meds for my back were all messed up for the 2 weeks I was in hospital I was in agony with my back by week 2. Anyway 2 days ago I started having little back spasms and overnight they went crazy, had to get the Dr out to my home at 5am and am now on diazepam for 3-4 days until the spasms stop. I guess my back is not happy with being neglected lol

I also better start reading some of the Bypass forum now instead of the sleeve forum, and people wonder why I am permanently confused

Eeks, what am awful experience Bastian. Those photos are scary!

Happy to hear you're on the mend now though and able to move forward with your journey.

I will also be having my surgery in Syd and self funding, did you have to pay at the public hospital you were transferred in to or did you go in as a public patient?

1 minute ago, DaisyChainOz said:

Eeks, what am awful experience Bastian. Those photos are scary!

Happy to hear you're on the mend now though and able to move forward with your journey.

I will also be having my surgery in Syd and self funding, did you have to pay at the public hospital you were transferred in to or did you go in as a public patient?

hiya, I'm now in the Uk so had it done here but I went in as an emergency public patient, thank goodness or they would have needed to sell my kidneys to pay for it lol

The bruising was just because of fragmin and the meds I was on pre-op, I thought it was cool it looked like snoopy and it looked far worse than it felt!

The relief after I had the bypass was HUGE and something like only 0.2% of people has the issue I had.... obviously I am a difficult person lol

My surgeon has done zillions of vsg's and I was his first volvulus needing an emergency bypass. So don't worry after reading my story, I have taken one for the team if you look at the %

Good luck with your op, you will be fine

2 minutes ago, Bastian said:

hiya, I'm now in the Uk so had it done here but I went in as an emergency public patient, thank goodness or they would have needed to sell my kidneys to pay for it lol

The bruising was just because of fragmin and the meds I was on pre-op, I thought it was cool it looked like snoopy and it looked far worse than it felt!

The relief after I had the bypass was HUGE and something like only 0.2% of people has the issue I had.... obviously I am a difficult person lol

My surgeon has done zillions of vsg's and I was his first volvulus needing an emergency bypass. So don't worry after reading my story, I have taken one for the team if you look at the %

Good luck with your op, you will be fine

Haha.. phew! Was worried about having to sell off body parts to pay for the emergency treatment, glad to hear you didn't have to.

Gives me a very good question to ask my Dr at first consult next Wed!!

And statistically- thanks for taking one for the team!!! ?

Actually It's fortunate in some ways as you have really good medical knowledge and can keep it in perspective.

Will be following your progress darl ?